“... 45 a. "The curtain [pargod] of the Omnipresent One": This curtain is the heavenly counterpart of the Veil which divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the earthly Tabernacle and Temple (Ex 26:31; 2Chr 3:14). The earthly veil is called the pdrdket: the heavenly veil, though sometimes called a pdrdket, is more commonly designated the pargod. Pargod is a loanword from Persian: Cf. the PdfoVawpardag, "curtain," "veil," and the cognate Hindustani pardah, from which the English "purdah" is derived. The heavenly pargod separates the immediate pres­ ence of God from the rest of heaven. It shields the angels from the destructive glare of the divine glory (Targum Job 26:9; cf. 3En 22B:6), and it conceals the ultimate mysteries of the deity; only the Prince of the Divine Presence is allowed to go within the curtain (cf. b.Yoma 77a). Some­ times secrets are announced by a heavenly voice "from behind the curtain" (b.Ber 18b; b.Hag 15a; 16a; b.Sanh 89b; Ma'yan Hokmah, BHM, vol. 1, p. 60, 1. 10; Ma'aseh 'asarah haruge malkut, BHM, vol. 6, p. 21, 1. 32, and p. 31, 1. 28; MidraS " 'Ellen 'ezkerah," BHM, vol. 3, p. 65, I. 25; MidraS 'aseret hadibberot, BHM, vol. 1, p. 81, 11. 3f.; Haggadat Sema' Yisra'el, BHM, vol. 5, p. 165, 11. 29f.; Masseket bibbut haqqeber 4; BHM, vol. 1. p. 152, I. 10). The idea in 3En 45 appears to be that the whole course of human history is already worked out "in blueprint" in the heavenly realm, and has been totally foreordained by God. Cf. the heav­ enly tablets on which, according to Hekalot Rabbati 6:3 (BM, vol. 1. p. 76), all the trials foreordained for Israel are already recorded. ...”